


snow and significance

by WEEKENDHAZE



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Soft Eddie Kaspbrak, entirely and stupidly cheesy and cliche, gays being FOOLS, they go christmas shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:42:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21893107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WEEKENDHAZE/pseuds/WEEKENDHAZE
Summary: christmas eve. 1994. uris/denbrough/tozier/kaspbrak residence, new york, NY.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	snow and significance

“Is sitting at home and watching all of the  _ Die Hard _ movies out of order not Christmas enough anymore?”

Richie swung his legs around onto the side of the bed, blankets askew at his sides and under his back. It was the day before Christmas Eve. He was in his room, their room, sprawled out across his bed, with Eddie standing at his side. His eyes didn’t have to be open to know what he was doing. He was looking around at his side of the room, making faces at how unkept his desk was or how the pile of clothes was  _ right fucking next to the hamper _ without actually being in it. His face would be pinched and arms crossed tight across his chest and his face would be a little pink and it’d be okay. When he opened his eyes just slightly, two narrow slits to peek, he was right down to a tee. But Eddie looked back down at him and his face softened because he knew he was watching him mentally criticize the mess.

“I just think maybe you could get more into the festivity this year.” Eddie shrugged and motioned for Richie to move his legs so he could sit. “Like, I don’t know, just something small. Like shopping for decorations or something. That’s fucking, that’s easy, right?”

Eddie rested his hand on his shin, palm flat and fingers loosely wrapped around the side of his leg, squeezing it lightly to get him to say something. Richie liked Christmas, and he’d always celebrate with his friends and they’d watch movies together and exchange gifts, but ever since they’d started college Richie had been falling out of it a little bit. He lost that kiddie sparkle in his eyes seeing snowfall or decorating the little tree they kept in the apartment with Stanley and Bill, and Bev, Mike, and Ben when they could make it from wherever they were at that point. They’d taken a gap year and were traveling, without purpose and without a promise of coming back. Maybe that was okay, though, because they still called and Richie still got to hear their voices, which is really what he needed, even though he’d never say it.

“We already did the tree, what else are we gonna do?”

“Seriously?” Eddie scoffed, knowing he knew that there was more. “C’mon, we can hang lights from the balcony and around the living room, whatever you want.”

“Eddie, you big tiny fool,” Richie grinned, pushing himself up on his elbows, “that is basically letting a small child into a zoo unattended.”

“I just wanna get out of the house, Richie, come on.” He dramatically threw himself down onto Richie’s legs, chest connecting harshly with his knees, head on his thighs. He was desperate to somehow make this work, get Richie out of the house and back into his usual spirits. He missed his parents and his friends and Maine, for some godforsaken reason. Nostalgia, maybe, definitely.

“Okay, you skeezy little elf. Get your head away from my dick and I’ll get my jacket. But only if we can stop for coffee or something.”

“Hot cocoa or no deal,” Eddie sighed, prying himself off of his legs.

“Wait, why are you trying to sweeten the deal for yourself when you’re the one dragging me out of the house?” Richie grunted and sat up, pushing his shoulder into Eddie’s. He stood and grabbed his coat. It was way too thin and long enough that it almost went past his knees. He still hadn’t invested in a real winter jacket, which didn’t surprise Eddie but still bugged him.

Eddie booked it to his room and grabbed his clothes and shoes, a puffy jacket and a knitted hat and a pair of boots. Even if it wasn’t fashionable, he was sure as hell going to be prepared. New York hadn’t received any snow yet, which was disappointing because it felt like negative ninety degrees outside and made perfect sense for snowy weather. Eddie shouted to Bill and Stanley from the living room and into their room that they were heading out, to which he received no reply. He turned an eyebrow down and wondered where they could be.

“Dude, they left like an hour ago,” Richie leaned down and whispered to Eddie, all but scaring the living shit out of him.

“Can you not fucking do that? Jesus, or at least like… Announce yourself when you walk into a room you creep.”

“Sir Edward, It is I, Richard Jude Tozier, entering your humble abode, if you would oblige,” he did his stupid British Guy voice and bowed with one hand to his chest, one behind his back. His glasses slid down the bridge of his nose and his stupid curls fell into his face and the lighting was soft and he looked kind of stupidly elegant. But then his glasses hit the floor and he tripped over an untied lace of his sneakers going to pick them up.

“Very classy, Sir Richard, now come on,  _ Christmas Tree Shop  _ closes at nine and it’s… Whatever fucking time it is right now so we gotta go.” And with that, he swung open the apartment door and they were off.

-

After a solid fifteen minutes of trying to hail a cab because it was seven on a Friday night and Stan and Bill had taken the car back to Derry, they managed to find one and make their way downtown. Richie could not refrain from quoting  _ Taxi _ , which Eddie was convinced he only saw once when he stayed home sick from classes and had to watch shitty day-time cable. The driver looked like he was a thousand years old and spoke with a heavy German accent and did not understand anything Richie was saying because no one genuinely watches  _ Taxi _ . Eddie watched the lights pass outside of the window and the people pass by in a blur. Driving in New York was only sometimes what people, namely his mother, made it out to be. Yeah, traffic could get nuts sometimes and people were loud, but there weren’t fiery car wrecks on bridges every forty seconds and no one really screamed  _ ‘Ay, I’m walkin’ ‘here! _

The driver dropped them off and Eddie quietly and profusely apologized for Richie and tipped him probably more than he needed to, but he was grateful for it. They crossed the street and walked up towards the store. The sign was fluorescent and white, and a large fake sleigh towing a Christmas tree sat right alongside it. As soon as they stepped in, Eddie glanced around in search of a shopping cart. Not a second later, he heard a gasp and saw Richie’s eyes light up.

“Eddie, oh my god, look at that cart,” he bounced up and down on his tip-toes as he extended his arm out to gesture wildly at the aforementioned car. The back half of it was a normal shopping cart, but attached at the front was a red and yellow plastic race car, complete with a wheel and little red button for a horn, intended for toddlers, Eddie had guessed.

“Richie, no, absolutely not,” Eddie furrowed his eyebrows as he looked up at him, “there’s no way you’re even gonna fit in that thing.”

“Eddie, baby, come on, I’ll fit fine, please, please, please?”

And then, Eddie saw it. It wasn’t much, but it was that little glint. The shine he got in his eyes when they decorated the tree or watched  _ Elf _ with the rest of the losers and he’d recite every line, word for word, on cue until someone asked him very kindly to shut the fuck up. It wasn’t as bright as it usually was, but it was still there, hands clasped tightly in front of his face, leaning down to look Eddie in the face with his stupid big eyes. Eddie decided he’d have to do something, anything, to keep that excitement going. And so, a little grin tugged at the corner of his lips, and he gestured at the cart with a nod of his head. Richie all but squealed as he ran over to it. Watching him try to squeeze his legs into it was enough to make Eddie double over in laughter. Richie was tall, taller than any of the losers, even Mike by a good few inches, so he had to cram his knees up to his nose, sneakers squeaking horribly against the plastic seat. Once he was in, he turned his head and gave Eddie a victorious smile, to which Eddie rolled his eyes and grabbed the cart by the handle, pushing him into the store.

The cart was heavy because of the added weight of Richie in the car, but it was worth pushing to watch Richie smile giddily as the wheeled through the isles. He would gesture up at the light displays along the walls, behind the isles and point out his favorites, ones of blues and pinks and purples. Eventually, a contest was started to find the best, which Eddie had graciously won with a sighting of beautiful white icicles, made of twinkling lights, and of course, Richie had pleaded to buy them. When he wasn’t looking, Eddie might’ve swiped a box of them into the cart so that he could decorate the living room, if he had wanted. They kept moving, Richie sneaking absurdly colored candy canes into the cart and Richie looking for a present for Stan.

“Hey, do you think we need more ornaments for the tree?” Richie asked, voice soft.

“Huh, I thought you said that we were done with it, Mr. Grinch,” Eddie sighed as he glanced over puzzles in an aisle at the back of the store, avoiding Richie’s glare.

“I dunno, I just thought… We don’t have to.” When Eddie turned to look at him now, he was sitting with his arms crossed on top of his knees, chin resting on them.

“Wait, hey,” Eddie stopped pushing the cart then and walked around to squat down in front of the little plastic car, trying to meet Richie’s eyes. “We can decorate it more if you want. A bunch of them broke during the move, anyways. Do you wanna go look at ornaments?”

“Depends,” Richie muttered quietly as he looked up to meet his eyes this time, “are you gonna call me a grinch again?”

Eddie held out his pinky, as a promise he wouldn’t say it to him again. He knew Richie took pinky promises weirdly seriously, but he respected it nonetheless. So they locked their pinkies together and exchanged kind smiles, and then Eddie returned to his station on the cart.

“Onward, my good fellow!” Richie shouted, pointing a finger towards the sky. People turned their heads, but they didn’t care. Eddie ran and jumped up onto the bar on the back of the cart, letting it push itself through the store. He laughed loudly into the air. The store was quiet and stale Christmas music buzzed through the speakers and it felt real. His first real holiday, away from home, with his real family. The air was light and crisp and everything was kind of perfect. He came to a skidding stop so that they could turn into the next aisle.

“Okay, sailor, hop out of the car and pick some ornaments, they’re gonna close soon.”

“Okay, uh, don’t bully me please,” Richie huffed out, hands braced against the fake doors of the car, “I know you’re gonna anyway but try not to this time.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Concern raced all over Eddie’s face, mind immediately jumping to the worst, quickly trying to conjure up in his mind the fastest route to the closest hospital.

“I’m kind of stuck in the car.”

Eddie’s face went blank, and his body stilled, and then he completely lost it. He was doubled over in laughter, almost gasping to regain his breath. Once he was able to stand back up straight, his face was beet red and he had hot tears in the corners of his eyes.

“Shut the fuck up! It’s not funny, Eds, get me out of this car right now I swear to fucking god,” Richie shouted, continuing to uselessly kick his legs against the plastic and attempt to push his way up and out of the seat, beeping the little horn accidentally in the process, which only served in making Eddie laugh louder and harder.

“Geez, okay, you sound like me. Just calm down for a sec, stop kicking around,” Eddie stepped behind the car and placed a leg on either side in a way that was almost painful because the car was so wide, “alright, I’m gonna try and pull you out, lift up your arms.”

Richie put out his arms straight in a T-pose, and Eddie hooked his arms under his armpits, being sure to avoid all hands-on contact with that area because Richie may be clean and all but he still wouldn’t go there. He bent his arms up and pulled and tried to wiggle him loose. They both grunted and struggled for at least four minutes before Richie’s knees finally wiggled loose from where they had been stuck against the little wheel. He stood on the seat and whooped victoriously, wrapping Eddie in a bear hug.

“Oh thank god Eds, you saved me. I thought you might’ve had to bring me home in that plastic deathtrap. I would’ve never heard the end of it from Stan,” he exaggerated, still holding Eddie down until he started wiggling out.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m your knight in shining armor, now get off of me you big weirdo.” Eddie laughed and shoved his chest lightly. He was warm and his cheeks were tinted pink from under his glasses.

“Yes, you’ve slain my little plastic dragon and brought me down from my tower, and now you’re gonna buy me an extravagant amount of Christmas ornaments.”

He slung an arm over Eddie’s shoulders and walked beside him as he pushed the cart, and threw ornaments into the cart. Little glass orbs of red and green and gold, and also some novelty ones. A little vintage bicycle, a turtle swirled with soft greens and yellows, a blue and gold menorah for Stanley, and a tiny snow globe on a thin thread. Inside of it was a little rainbow. Richie held it up in front of his face with a coy little smile to show Eddie.

“Come on, you need your own little gay ornament for the tree, Eds.” Richie smiled as he rolled it into the cart carefully, so as not to break it.

Naturally, Eddie didn’t really know how to respond to that. He’d come out to his friends two years before he’d left home, and that was it. They said they were happy for him and that they’d support him, and they had, but not typically like this. He blushed fiercely and confusedly and looked down at his shoes.

“Thanks, I think? It’s cute,” he smiled at him and pushed the cart further down the aisle. Richie chuckled at that and kept walking, swinging his arms around wildly around his sides, nearly breaking ornaments stacked on the shelves.

They started approaching the exit, finding their shopping nearly complete. He glanced over at Richie and saw he was looking around at the store frantically, obviously searching out something before they left. Eddie looked up at him about to ask what he needed before he took off in the other direction, leaving Eddie alone at the register, and it’s just stupid. Because Eddie thought this was gonna work and he thought he wasn’t still gonna be weird and cynical about this, but of course he was. So Eddie just checked out and pushed the cart back into the crowd of metal and plastic by the front and waited for him. He checked his watch, and it was eight forty-five, meaning they’d definitely have to get going soon and whatever the fuck he was doing was taking too long. But then he saw him jogging up, a plastic bag in hand similar to the ones Eddie was carrying.

“Dude, what the fuck was that? Where’d you go?”

“Had something I forgot to get,” he shrugged and poked him in the forehead, “don’t worry your pretty little brain, Edward, I didn’t get abducted or anything, I can handle myself.”

“Well you just took off, I got freaked out,” Eddie shrugged and pushed one of the bags into his free hand for him to carry, “what’d you have to get?”

“Sorry I freaked you out. It’s supposed to be a surprise so I had to get it without you.”

There was that glint in Richie’s eyes again, and Eddie smiled at that. He knew that whatever he had to do was good for this weird holiday funk he was in, so he’d respect it. He pushed his arm, fist balled up with thin plastic handles, and they left to hail another cab.

-

Once they stepped into the apartment, Richie collapsed onto the couch, still clad in coat and sneakers. The lights were soft and dim, and they were stupid and forgot to unplug the tree before they left which was a major fire hazard. But Eddie really couldn’t bring himself to care, because the lights were pretty and everything just felt kind of nice. But not nice enough to the point where he was gonna forget to take his gross ass shoes off before stepping on the carpet and taking his jacket off before sitting on the couch like  _ some  _ people.

“Rich, your shoes and jacket are fucking gross, you know that, right? I mean, you sat in the cab which god knows what people have done in there and the coat touch the seat and-”

“Eds, Eddie, Edward baby, I am going to fall into a coma-like sleep and even you bitching about my coat isn’t gonna stop that.” Richie sighed, laying on his back across the couch, eyes closed as they faced the ceiling.

“Well please at least take your shoes off.”

Richie threw his hands up defense and sat up to shed his shoes and toss them into the corner by the tree, but missing and nearly hitting Eddie in the shin. He grunted and let himself collapse back into the couch with a groan. Apparently, being out of the house for any more than two hours drained any energy he had left. 

“Alright, I’m gonna unpack the bags so we can decorate.” Eddie sighed as he kicked his shoes off and hung his jacket. But at that, Richie practically flew off of the couch and murmured a symphony of  _ wait wait wait wait _ as he moved hurriedly across the room.

“Dude what the fu-”

“I need to get my bag before you unpack it, I don’t want you to spoil this shit for yourself,” Richie spoke quietly and softly, searching through the bags for his mystery item. 

Eddie laughed because he’d never seen him in such disarray. His hair was thrown around, curls in front of his eyes and tickling his ears because of how violently he’d thrown himself off of the couch. A light blush tinged his cheeks behind his freckles, and he looked kind of manic. All of a sudden, he snatched up the bag and all but ran to their room and slammed the door. _ What the fuck, _ Eddie thought. He just stood in the doorway to the kitchen, where the now mess of bags sat on the counter.

-

Eddie had finished hanging the icicles in the living room, hung from clear thumbtacks along with the white trim on the edges room. He stepped down from his stool and glanced around at his work proudly before moving to plug in the cord behind the tree. Right before he could plug it in, Richie stepped out of their room, hanging by one arm on the frame. He’d changed into plaid PJ pants and a white shirt with a little red heart in the right corner, over his actual heart. He quirked his brow and tilted his head before realizing what it was, and a huge grin broke out on his face. Eddie quickly smiled back at him before quickly turning to plug them in. The room glowed in white and blue, twinkling lights all around them. Richie was right, it was pretty fucking gorgeous. Maybe they weren’t intended for inside use, but so what?

“Eds, I can’t believe you got them,” he smiled and walked towards him, continuously turning and looking around, enchanted by the lights, “this is just… God, they’re fucking beautiful.”

“Well, I wanted to make Christmas special for you, even without the rest of the losers here to celebrate, so I figured ‘fuck it, let’s just go ham’, y’know?” Eddie shrugged and looked him in the eye. He could feel his face burning, maybe because the room was hot and he’d just monkey’d around the room on a step stool trying to get this goddamn lights up for the better part of forty-five minutes. But maybe it was because Richie’s face was close enough to his that he could see every smudge on his glasses, count every freckle on his cheekbones, admire just how kind of creepily black his hair was. Not noticed his hands were held behind his back, shoulders carefully held back. He tried to glance around, and Richie turned his shoulder back so that he couldn’t see, meaning he was obviously hiding something back there.

“What’s that? You’re special mystery whatever the fuck you bought tonight?”

“You really wanna know?” Richie grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, which of course made Eddie stifle a laugh because he was just such an absurd human being sometimes.

“Obviously I wanna know, you fuckwad. Come on, take it out.”

“That’s actually really funny, your mom said that a couple days ago about my-”

Eddie clamped his hand down over his mouth and stifled another laugh, because he was just ultimately more absurd and obscene and stupidly  _ not _ funny. Richie licked his hand, which made him retract it at a lightning speed and wipe it against his jeans. That glint was back in his eyes. He had a big dopey grin and his eyelids looked heavy like he really was exhausted. And then, Richie took one of his arms and held it above both of their heads, high to the ceiling, fist still clamped with the item inside. All Eddie could do was hope that it wasn’t fake snow or glitter or something ridiculous like that which Richie would totally do. When he opened his fist, his fingers pinched the end of the stem on a piece of mistletoe. Eddie stared up at it, leaves and berries shimmering in the lights from the icicles. He looked back down at Richie, mouth agape, and that stupid grin was still plastered on his face.

“Rich, what… What?”

“It’s mistletoe, Eds. You know the rules.” He smiled at him and blushed coyly. Eddie’s mouth shut, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“God, you cheesy fuck.”

Richie opened his mouth to snap back at him, but before he could respond, Eddie planted his hands firmly on his shoulders and pressed his lips to his own. There was no heat in it, it was just soft and sweet and warm. Richie dropped his hand from above their heads, dropping the mistletoe to the floor and bringing both hands to the sides of his jaw. He kissed him back, sweetly and warmly, and his whole body felt like it might just dissolve into the floor right then and there, and he would be completely fine with it. They pulled back to catch their breaths, and neither of them said a word. They just smiled at each other for a moment before Richie moved his hands from his face to his waist, putting a few inches of distance between their faces, and then broke the comfortable silence.

“Technically you’re also a cheesy fuck for following the rules, I’ll have you know.”

“Please just shut the fuck up for like two seconds. Did you plan that all out?” Eddie laughed out at him and dropped his head between them, hair brushing the hollow of Richie’s throat.

“Maybe, just maybe I planned that out like two weeks ago.”

“God, you absolute sap. I wanna declare to the world that Mister Richard Jude Tozier is, in fact, a major sap and an absolute dumb shit.”

“Doesn’t even matter, I’m only a softie for you.”

“Well then merry Christmas, you creepy little sap.”

“Merry Christmas, Eds.”

And just as he spoke, the first snow of the year began to fall.

**Author's Note:**

> did I write this to cope with my disdain for the entirey of the holiday season? maybe. also christmas tree shop is the only store ever and if you haven't been then make that a top priority.


End file.
